Please help me

[Tigran of Sasoun]

Hello,

I am in need of advice. I dont know a dam thing about computers, but i thought i had a pretty good one, and was not afraid of being able to run MTWII. But i recently bought "Company of Heroes" and put the settings on High and i could not play the game. I got a error message of not enough memory or something like that. Now I am worried that my computer is not to what i thought it was. I played Half Life 2 with no problems, RTW on high settings with Large army no problem, battlefield 2 on Medium/High settings with good results so I thought i was set for MTWII but seeing the screen shots I see that i need to upgrade.

So please help me out, tell me what you need to know about my computer.
Should i upgrade or just get a new PC.

I was thinking of getting a Alienware Area51 7500 and thought that i would not need to upgrade for like 7-10 years if I do get it. Or am i imagining and will I need to upgrade this PC in like 2-3 years?

One of my budies tol me about this: http://www.ilync.com/intel.htm Its the most top end PC (its Canadian dollars)

But to tell you about my Computer, I have a:

Intel Pentium 4 CPU 2.40GHz 512 MB of RAM

And i think my Video Card is a ATI Radeon 9550.

Please help me. What do i need to make my computer really fast that i can play Company of Heroes and MTWII on high settings. Also does the monitor make a difference and should i change it?

Thanks, be honest and straight forward and tell me what i need to hear do not sugar it up.

Edit: money is kinda of an option but not really. I would rather spend a little extra to upgrade better than to upgrade the minimum than have to do it shortly after again.

And buying a new PC isnt really something i want to do, but if I dont need to upgrade Alienware for a long time i would rather invest in it than keep on upgrading my computer.

[Incinerate_IV]

No need to upgrade in 7 - 10 years? Yea right... PC hardware goes out of date so fast, if you want to keep up with the paste you need to upgrade at least once every 2 years, even if you buy top-of-the-line $4000 dollar parts.

If you need some help choosing parts, read the PC Hardware Guide stickied in this forum. I recommend you build, but if you must buy, do NOT buy from Alienware, their price is insanly high.

[Aristocrat]

Sadly, your computer is outdated, your cpu is slow by today's standards, you don't have enough ram, and your video card is obsolete.
However, if I were you, I would not touch Alienware unless you are happy to throw away $500+ for no reason. There are better prebuilt options out there (apparently Monarch computers is good for that) and it would most definitely be cheaper to build one yourself.
Now, before you freak out at the idea of building a computer yourself, I'll let you in on a not so secret secret, it is incredibly easy. You buy the parts, typically off some internet vendor such as Newegg or TigerDirect, and then all you have to do is put the components in the correct slot on the motherboard, attach some power and data chords, (you just plug them in), and the only slightly annoying part is attaching the wires fron the case, as they are generally small.
Your first time it would take a few hours I guess, but once you've built one, the next time it takes less than 1 hour, plus you are able to fix any hardware problems yourself without going to a store and paying someone else to do it.

Anyhow, back on topic, you need a new processor, video card, more ram, and a new motherboard that is compatible with the new technology, basically a new computer, you COULD upgrade your current computer, but:
1. You have an AGP video card and thus an AGP motherboard, AGP is being phased out and now AGP cards cost more than the new standard PCI express.
2. Your cpu is at a guess, socket 775 or 478, newer socket types are now out that use dual core technology.
3. 1gb of ram is now the minimum for games, sure you could just buy another 512 or 1gb stick(s), but some older motherboards (I dont know what yours is) cant handle more than 2gb of ram, or only have 3 ram slots and other issues.

Oh and your buddy lied to you, those computers you linked to are no where near top of the line, they arent even middle of the line.

I suggest you check Monarch Computers out if you want a prebuilt computer, they let you choose all the parts, though I would hope you do it yourself.

[Tigran of Sasoun]

Actaully i upgraded my video card like 1 or 1.5 years ago. I used to have a Nvedia. i dont know what but this new video card was like 2 times better. if that info cahnges anything?

I really appreciate your advice.

Ya I want to upgrade myself, but if i really really need to I will buy a new computer. But for now what do i need to do to find out what kind of motherboard or what i have to see how i can upgrade it?

[Incinerate_IV]

CPU-Z

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

I'm pretty sure you got AGP, but to make sure, open the computer up and check to see if the graphics card is pluged into white slots, or some other bigger slots of a different color (usually brown).

[Tigran of Sasoun]

K will do, im just working on a term paper and dont want to take any chances so i gotta wait till tommorow.

[Tigran of Sasoun]

Well i got that thing from the website i run it. It says i can take pictures with F5 but i am doing it but cant. how do i do it?? And when i have it how do i post up pictures?

Sorry i dont know a dam thing about computers

Edit: ok i got the pictures now how do i post them up??

[fatsheep]

Save your images as .jpeg files, host them at www.imageshack.us and paste the code it gives you here.

[Tigran of Sasoun]

[Aristocrat]

POST a screenshot of the cpu and mainboard tabs...what you posted tells me nothing about the hardware.

[Tigran of Sasoun]

There we go that was just a test. Ok i got it.

EDIT:

Ok i was browsing other threads, i was just wondering is it worth upgrading my PC or should i just get a brand new PC. If there price is gona be about the same i would rather have 1 PC for just gaming (the one i would buy) and one for family ( the one i have now.

Like i said i was reading other threads and saw two places that look good. But since i know nothing about computers, i need some advice. I found these two websites from other thread and would like some advice.


From this website: http://www.ibuypower.com/mall/lobby-intel.asp

I like all the higher end PC here.
Which one do you guys think is the best for the pc and its cost?
I also tried upgrading and adding components or is it not worth it?

And this website: http://www.abs.com/app/ult_compare.asp//

I like all the computers on that site except the first one.

So what is the best bang for the buck?

[L`zard]

Dude;

No matter which road you take, build your own!

Buying a redi-built just means your paying someone else to assemble the sucker for you.

This **** isn't rocket science, it just requires attention to detail and some study, eh?

Make that 'considerable study', lol..but still.....

In the end, it all depends upon how much money you have to burn, eh?

Building a 'brand spanking new state of the art box' is something of a crap-shoot, in my estimation, as some of the 'bleeding edge' stats may or may not survive market-place effects (anyone remember Beta vs VHS? The vidio-disk?), so one needs to constantly be advised.

Yeah, your present box is a dinosaur, but could be improved with a new mobo that handles better ram and has a new chip-set and bios. Finding a new mobo that handles pcexpress or better could be a problem, lol! P4/2.4 really is old .

If your Really into eye-candy, it's probably gonna be cheaper in the long-run to start over.

[Aristocrat]

Ok, my advice, straight and simple.
Build a new computer for gaming, get a motherboard that is decently futureproof (PCI express, and dual core supportable), and then the rest is down to how much you are willing to spend. I would give this advice, for every component there is a 'level' (A certain point on the scale of top end to craptacular) where the price jumps markedley, my general advice is to buy the component just before this jump, as it generally does everything it's more expensive brethren can, except that perhaps in 2 years a game will come out which requires to move the settings from Ultra high down to high...which is when Id upgrade. (Actually in my case I just overclock and get more mileage out of the hardware...).

On the sites you posted....the cheaper computers are alright price per part wise, but the higher end almost put alienware to shame.
If you want to throw your money away, buy one of them, otherwise build yourself, Id say buy a cheaper pne and upgrade....but a lot of prebuilt computer manufacturers to their best to make it hard if not impossible.

[Tigran of Sasoun]

Ok well is there a website i can find everything i need to make a computer? I mean everything i need.

[AlfonsoVIII]

www.newegg.com or www.tigerdirect.com

[Tigran of Sasoun]

Ok so now what do i need to make a PC???

All i know now is i need a case, video card, sound card, motherboard, hard drive, and i really dont know the rest. Anyone willing to hold my hand and tell me what i need???

[Nebuchadnezzar]

CD/DVD drive or burner + cables
floppy drive or flash card reader
CPU
RAM
InBuilt Modem? Dialup or ADSL?

So then you put it altogether without breaking anything but it doesn't work right. BIOS need updating?
Usually eveything works out OK but sometimes it can be nighmare city. I suggest you use only quality components especially the MB.

[Frost, colonel]

Ok so now what do i need to make a PC???

All i know now is i need a case, video card, sound card, motherboard, hard drive, and i really dont know the rest. Anyone willing to hold my hand and tell me what i need???

At least 1gig of memory, a power supply and a DVD drive. Everything has to match together, ie the PSU(power supply unit)has to be able to provide enough juice! Again if you are going to add another GPU(Graphics card unit)later then buy a PSU that can handle that.
You must get the correct Motherboard that supports for example Sata 1 if you go for a Raptor Harddrive or Sata II for other newer but not faster drives. The Motherboard has to have the correct socket for the CPU(processor).
You must get the correct DDR memory for the CPU, etc,etc!

You need to also try and keep an upgrade path open, so you can add bits later, ie:in the graphics area, you may wish to have a crossfire graphics card set up(2 ATi graphics cards running together, SLI is the name for 2 nvidia cards running together) If you buy a crossfire supporting Motherboard you could buy 1 card now and one later when needed or when you have the money. But keep in mind that in approax 18 months, games may be out which will need Direct X10 supporting GPU's which should be on the market in a few months.

You need to decide if you want the best image or the most frames per second, because only ATi currently support HDR and AA on at the same time, but nvidia currently have the fastest GPU, but speed shouldn't be a problem if you want the very best if you go for 2 cards at some point

What is your budget?
Is the PC just for gaming?

Regarding a good website that is well laid out and easy to understand the sourcing of the right components WWW.OVERCLOCKERS.CO.UK is a decent site, to help you figure out what goes with what.
Just make a list, I like to read reviews on components I buy, then find a supplier in the best location for you.
I often use a price checker site.

If this is all to complicated for you, just ask us to theoretically put one together for you within your stated budget/requirements, to give you some ideas.

[Tigran of Sasoun]

Thanks man thats exactly what I needed!.

Ya right now im just gona pock around and try tp figure it out and if i dont know what im doing (which is the case, lol) ill ask for some help.

About waiting though for a couple of months, i keep hearing to wait until April or wait until June next year because some amazing new product will be out that will make any new topend PC look like a beater. Is there trueth to this? and should i hold out for a bit??

[fatsheep]

For hardware selection read this:

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=52737

For the actual assembling of the computer read this:

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1444